Data centers, the things that physically store and share applications and data, require an enormous amount of energy to run. These giant storage units, responsible for 1-1.5% of global electricity consumption, have traditionally relied on renewable sources like solar and wind but it seems as though renewable energy just won’t be able to keep up with the demand required moving forward.
I can’t wait for the extropians to start installing McReactors everywhere. More energy = more better!!!
Putting aside the jokes, this is a pretty good idea. Dedicated renewable energy sources for data centers have some real problems (expansion, power transmission, land use in areas ideal for data centers, peak loads for data centers out of synch with, blahblahblah etc). With nobody anticipating the demand for data services will suddenly stop growing exponentially, because that would be silly, this is a prudent step forwards. I think we ca all agree that reducing the operating costs, reducing the strain on local power grids and furthering societal acceptance of modern small-scale nuclear power plants are all pretty valuable ideas.
(and for what its worth, Microsoft contracts with NIF - they’re already involved with the design of nuclear weapons, a thorium reactor (which would be DOE managed anyways) is a bit less concerning)
All these fancy plans and Microsoft still can’t figure out how to merge Windows Control Panel and Settings into one 🙄.
Backward compatibility issues I would imagine. When your codebase is that large and ubiquitous, it’s hard to make the tiniest change without breaking shit.
And every time MS does change* something, resulting in breaking updates: “SEE! M$ sucks!”
This was really annoying in windows 10, but in windows 11 I can’t remember the last time I had to go into control panels. I don’t do too much odd stuff, but still.
It sounds like the sky is the limit. They should call the project Skynet.
Yea, nuclear powered AI with power independent from the grid certainly strikes me as a dystopian AI premise.
The people responsible for developing Windows should never be allowed near any kind of critical infrastructure.
Building an OS to run on every conceivable hardware combination is quite different than building narrowly-focused, purpose-built code.
Linux users: It just works out of the box! OK, fine, you may have to twiddle with a load of text files (if you can find them), spend a few hours researching, stuff like that. But it just works!
Again, not comparable, but MS had stable hits with NT 4.0, 2000, XP and 7. I’d add 10 as well. No personal experience with 11, but none of my users complain. Unless you wanted a locked ecosystem like Mac, and that’s fine if you do!, Windows rocks out.
If you want a purpose-built OS, Linux clearly rules the world.
On my Linux machine. I did nothing and all was just running out of the box without needing to touch anything.
Meanwhile on Windows 10 and 11. I spend more than an hour installing GPU and Soundcard drivers with 3 reboots. Additionally a friend told me to reinstall the GPU drivers as I have bug X and Y which seemed common on Windows.
Getting strong metal gear solid vibe from this one
I’m fine with this as long as they’re willing to use that power for the grid when the AI grift enviably comes crashing down.
Welp, didn’t think I’d be reminded of Don Widener’s book N.U.K.E.E. today.
The problem with nuclear is nuclear waste. Nuclear waste is stored in barrels in caves and buried. It remains radioactive for thousands of years. By creating nuclear waste we are forcing 100 generations after us to live with this nuclear waste. I don’t know all the details but they say it’s “safe.”
Hard to believe how safe something can be from an inconvenient earthquake or terrorist attack.
Funny how everyone is immediately concerned with a few thousands of cubic meters of solid waste that literally loses its harm exponentially quickly and we can store underground while all the billions of tons of toxic liquid and gaseous waste coming from a sleuth of industrial applications (including renewables production) constantly being pumped in the biosphere never get a mention
I could be wrong but I thought rate of decay was a logarithmic function, not exponential.
Rate of decay for a specific isotope is constant, so its abundance decays exponentially. Of course a species can transmute in a new radionuclide so the process in total will not be exactly exponential, but pretty close. Seen on a log scale it’s awfully close to a straight line
This link shows that the number of nuclides decreases at a slower rate as time goes on. Opposite of an exponential function.
As time progresses the rate at which the nuclear waste decays into innert matter is slower and slower. This is not at all an exponential rate.
So I don’t think it’s correct to say “loses its harm exponentially.”
It “loses its harm” more slowly as time goes on
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-physics/chapter/31-5-half-life-and-activity/
Sorry what? That link literally explains the exponential decay of radioisotopes.
Exponential decay is not the same as “exponentially losing its harm”
It very slowly “loses its harm” and as time progresses, it gets even slower.
The inverse of an exponential function is still an exponential function.
The harm of ionizing radiation is given by the activity of the source. Which decays exponentially. You should not go on the internet lecturing people you don’t know about things you don’t understand.
Also, you moved the goalpost: first you claimed waste “doesn’t decay exponentially” and then without acknowledging it, you now claim that “exponential decay is not the same as losing harm exponentially”
Those are talking points from like, weeks after nuclear became a thing. How are people still parroting them to this day???
